[wisb] Fwd: Travels yesterday in Tomah area: Snow Goose
- From: Peggy B <pegbiltgen@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 17:37:43 -0500
Thanks to Peter with the identification help, I saw 2 Snows and 1 blue-morph
Snow Goose yesterday in Tomah. They were in an open waterway about a mile long
just off HWY 90/94. There was also quite a few Scaups and Mergansers.
Extremely exciting to me--"smiling geese"
Peggy Biltgen
Sauk County
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: April 4, 2012 8:13:34 PM CDT
> To: Peggy B <pegbiltgen@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Travels today in Tomah area
>
> Hi Peggy -
>
> I agree - sounds like your earlier geese were Ross's (which have been oddly
> easy to find the last few Springs around here - believe me, it didn't used to
> be this easy!) The ones today definitely sound like Snows, which have a
> "grin patch" on the bill. The dark one was a blue-morph Snow (used to be
> considered a separate species, Blue Goose.)
>
> I'd post these - Snows have actually been kind of tough to find the last few
> years, so folks up that way may want to go look.
>
> Keep the reports coming!
>
> Peter
>
> On 04/04/12, Peggy B
> wrote:
>> Thanks Peter,
>>
>> I thought I would pass on my findings to you first, to see if I am on track
>> or made some more errors today's.
>>
>> I was up around the Tomah area today and I think the white geese I saw
>> yesterday had to be Ross's. I went exploring between sales calls today and
>> found an open waterway about a mile long just off highway 90/94 and saw 3
>> white geese. They looked almost identical to the 2 white geese with black
>> tips on their tail feathers I saw in Sauk City yesterday, only bigger. 2
>> were dead ringers but bigger, the third had a white head and neck but dark
>> body--couldn't quite identify. The beaks seemed a little different--bigger,
>> and they looked like they were smiling. Do you think they were Snow's?
>>
>> The pond or flooded area was filled with assorted ducks, I think I
>> identified some Scaups and Mergansers. It was a great day!
>>
>> Thanks for any help or tips,
>>
>> Peggy Biltgen
>> Sauk County
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 3, 2012, at 8:39 PM, Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> The only way to learn is by making mistakes - I've made some dumb ones in
>>> the past, and continue to make them even after 30+ years of birding
>>> (including identifying Cormorants as loons in the presence of other
>>> birders... sigh... in my defense, the Cormorants were a long ways out on
>>> Lake Michigan.) If it's any consolation, on a WSO field trip a few years
>>> ago, one of the best birders in the entire state called out "Lapland
>>> Longspurs!" It was a flock of Starlings...
>>>
>>> Odds are, if you're traveling around regularly, you're going to see some
>>> really good birds, so please keep reporting them. If you're not sure about
>>> something, go ahead and bounce it off me first if you like. I can't
>>> guarantee a speedy response, especially on the weekends, but I'll get back
>>> to you eventually.
>>>
>>> Keep on birding, Peter
>>>
>>> On 04/03/12, Peggy B
>>> wrote:
>>>> Hi Peter,
>>>> Looking at the Cormorants in my field guides, they could have been, we
>>>> were a bit away. I did not here them call.
>>>>
>>>> Should I stop reporting? I travel the southern part of the state with my
>>>> job and just get so excited with my finds.
>>>>
>>>> I am not a kid, just the opposite, someone who has found her passion for
>>>> birds after a very long time of life and work getting I the way.
>>>>
>>>> I will respect your guidance.
>>>>
>>>> Peggy Biltgen
>>>> Sauk County
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 3, 2012, at 8:00 PM, Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Peggy -
>>>>>
>>>>> The Kestrel was almost certainly hit by a car - probably caught the mouse
>>>>> alongside the road and got clipped as she took off to fly back up to the
>>>>> wire to eat it. Darn shame, but it happens a lot to raptors that hunt
>>>>> roadsides.
>>>>>
>>>>> Your geese could have been Ross's or Snow Geese - plumage is identical,
>>>>> but Ross's are smaller and have a much stubbier bill which is vertical
>>>>> where it joins the face. Hybrids are unfortunately quite common.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd be stunned to see loons in a farm pond, or anything smaller than a
>>>>> good-sized lake. Any chance they were Cormorants? Loons need close to a
>>>>> quarter-mile of open water to take off. Cormorants will land in anything
>>>>> that looks like it has fish (I've seen them on pretty small golf course
>>>>> ponds.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Fissel - Madison
>>>>>
>>>>> On 04/03/12, Peggy B
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> I spotted what I believe we're 2 Ross's on the Wisconsin River just off
>>>>>> the HWY 12 bridge in Sauk City around 5:30 pm. I saw the black tips on
>>>>>> the tail feathers end, especially when they had their bottoms in the
>>>>>> air. I did get a really good look through my binoculars, checked my
>>>>>> field guides, and although being a rookie birder, I think they were
>>>>>> Ross's. I do apologize if any of you were on the bridge and honking!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In Green County around 3:00 pm, I spotted 2 Common Loons in a dairy
>>>>>> farmer's pond just off HWY 69 in Monroe. I was actually there for work,
>>>>>> but the dairy farmer said--we have some visitors you might like to see
>>>>>> before we start--there were 2 Common Loons in all their glory swimming
>>>>>> in the pond. Firsts for me! It is funny, maybe I am becoming a better
>>>>>> birder, when people are looking for birds for me and letting me see them
>>>>>> before I get to business.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sadly, just a few miles south of Monroe on HWY 69, I saw a dead American
>>>>>> Kestrel with a mouse in her grasp. I am not sure if she was hit by a car
>>>>>> or just fell. It was very windy today, and I noticed how hard the birds
>>>>>> seemed to be working just to,stay in the air. It was noticeably windier
>>>>>> the closer to the Illinois state line.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In Monticello, just off lake drive I saw a lone Sandhill Crane, there
>>>>>> may have been a second one--it sounded like more than one, but, I
>>>>>> couldn't really see the second. I have seen Sandhills just about every
>>>>>> day for the last two weeks in my travels. Maybe they are welcoming me to
>>>>>> the birding world.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Peggy Biltgen
>>>>>> Sauk County
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
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